Buckwheat crepes

French buckwheat crepe filled with cheese ham and egg on plate

5 from 7 votes

These naturally gluten-free French crepes are typically served with savory toppings, and have a lovely gently nutty flavor.

Prep Time4

Cook Time16

Total Time20

Course: Brunch, Lunch

Cuisine: French

Servings:

Calories: 376kcal

Author: Caroline's Cooking

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Ingredients

For crepes

½ cup buckwheat flour
1 egg
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk

To cook/serve

½ tablespoon butter approx
8 tablespoon grated gruyere cheese (approx)
4 slices ham
1 tablespoon butter or oil, or more as needed to cook eggs
4 eggs

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the crepes

Mix together the ingredients for the crepes either by hand with a whisk or with a blender. Ideally, chill the mixture, covered, overnight or at least 30 minutes.
When ready to use, stir the batter well. The consistency should be similar to heavy cream (double cream) - if it is too thick add a little water (I needed around 2 tbsp).
Warm a crepe pan or large skillet/frying pan (approx 12in/30cm diameter) over a medium-high heat. When warm, add the butter - it should bubble immediately but not brown.
Pour approx ¼ cup of the crepe mixture into the warm frying pan/skillet. Do this with the pan off the heat and at the same time swirl it round the pan so it covers all of the base, as far as possible. Fill any gaps with a little extra batter.
After a couple minutes, the top will be dry. Loosen the edge and once the edge starts to curl up and go crisp, turn the crepe over with a spatula/palette knife. Cook a couple more minutes on the other side.
Remove to a plate with a clean dish towel on top and cover with the towel. Repeat with the rest of the batter - you should get 4 crepes.

To fill the crepes

Prepare fillings first - grate the cheese and separate into 4 piles of 2tbsp each ready to use. Break up the ham if larger pieces. Fry the eggs in a medium-high heat skillet with butter or oil so that the whites are cooked but yolks are still soft (unless you prefer cooked more).
Re-heat a crepe in the crepe pan/skillet over medium heat for around 30 seconds. Add the cheese in the middle, leaving, top with the ham then the egg leaving the sides without any filling (or at least not too much).
Fold in two opposite sides over the filling but leaving the yolk of the egg visible. Fold in the two other sides so that you form a pocket. Press the sides down with a spatula to get them to hold, as far as possible, then remove from pan and serve. Repeat with rest of crepes.

Notes

Note the process of re-heating the crepe and adding the filling is much the same, even with other fillings. If you like, you can flip the crepe over to help the sides hold together better, but it will cook the filling a little and for the egg, can mean the yolk will burst open.

Nutrition